Tuesday, December 05, 2006

It's Been Awhile

Actually, over a week. I have been extremely bogged down between school, work, and the job search. Heck, I just turned down the Alabama coaching job. So over the course of 8 days, to say a lot has changed in the college football landscape would be a mild understatement. The one thing that hasn't changed though is Bama is still without a coach, although sources are saying that it's only a matter of 24 hours or so until Rich Rodriguez signs his soul away to the Tide.

Can I now jump on the UCLA bandwagon since I attend the school? A rather shocking day in Los Angeles on Saturday. UCLA did not even play its "A" game and yet they still beat USC. I think it became quite obvious on Saturday that John David Booty is an average to good quarterback, but nowhere close to Palmer or Leinart's league. The UCLA D did a great job of applying pressure on the Trojan QB, completely taking away any big play threat that the Trojans might have had. I was shocked to see how gracious Pete Carroll was in defeat during his post game interview. I was waiting to hear some bs remarks out of his mouth like what he was spouting off after their Rose Bowl defeat last year.

I'm still amazed that Florida finished the year at 12-1. The team never looked too good in getting to that record (although I thought they looked great on Saturday), yet found ways to win with an absolutely brutal schedule. They clearly deserve a shot at Ohio State for the national title. I read a quote from Michigan's Lloyd Carr about how the national title game should be determined on the playing field. Well boo hoo, Lloyd, I have news for you, it was determined on the playing field when you lost to Ohio State. The fact of the matter is Michigan played in a weak conference and only beat 2 teams of note. No one is sure how good those 2 teams (Wisconsin and Notre Dame) are either. Florida won its conference which has 4 teams in the top 12 (and they went 2-1 against those teams) as well as beat more respectable out of conference opponents. You look at the body of work that the SEC has over the year versus what the Big 10 has done and to me it seems that Florida is the clear cut choice to play in Tempe. While Lloyd Carr has done some whining, I don't think anyone can top the whining that has been done by Kirk Herbstreit. His love obsession with the Big 10 is extremely non-professional. He even went on to say that he thinks Florida can beat Ohio State, yet Michigan deserves to play in the game. I must admit that I have become rather turned off by the ESPN so-called college football "gurus." While I only caught Gameday a few times this year, it is safe to say that I am done with the show.

A lot of talk has been made about Jim Grobe for coach of the year and rightfully so. But has anyone done a better job than Bob Stoops. This guy lost his quarterback a week before the season, the looses perhaps the nation's top running back (clearly the nation's most proven running back) midway through the season only to finish the year 11-2 and Big 12 champs. I'm still a little put out by his crying after the Oregon game, but Coach Stoops did one hell of a job this year and clearly earned his top college coaching salary.

Quickly glancing over the bowl match-up, I am extremely excited about the Notre Dame-LSU Sugar Bowl match-up. I am hoping that LSU puts a similar whipping on the Irish that it did against the Hurricanes in last year's Peach Bowl. I think it very possible as do the odds makers in Vegas making LSU an early 9 point favorite.

Plenty more to write, but so few hours these days. Plenty more to come during the week - i.e. no more 8 day lay-offs for a little while.

1 Comments:

At 5:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

PLEASE VOTE FOR THE SEC'S NEW LITTLE BROTHER TEXAS A&M @ www.gamedayvote.com SO WE CAN BEAT THE BIG 10 SCHOOL NEBRASKA!!! SEC ALWAYS WINS!!!

 

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